The
story begins: "On the fifteenth of the month, Bruno Hen did the thing
which was actually his first step toward disaster--a disaster that was
to affect not only himself, but many others as well".
Michigan fur trapper Bruno Hen tells his neighboor, "If anything happens to me use this kale to hire the best detective in the world". Then he is killed when his house is mysteriously torn into splinters. Newspapers of major cities run cryptic advertisements from an unknown source saying, "The Monsters Are Coming". Prisoners are broken out of prisons across the country.